Toilet kit

Designed by the Boston printing company Rustcraft for the economical traveler of the 1920s, this simple portable clothesline reflects the dramatic change in tourism during the first decades of the 20th century. At the turn of the century, traveling was the privilege of the wealthy. In the years following World War I, the increasing affordability of the automobile brought vacation travel to middle-class Americans as well. In the 1920s the number of cars on American roads tripled from an already astonishing 8 million at the beginning of the decade to nearly 25 million by its close, providing the most popular means of vacation travel in the country. The expansion of such informal travel spawned a new demand for portable versions of life's necessities. Neatly packed in a brown leather case, this travel laundry kit contains a cord, four clothespins, and a picture of a young woman hanging laundry in her hotel room to demonstrate just how easy it is to do. Of course, as the package suggests, it's not meant for a full week's laundry: "To dry a handkerchief or two, this line and clothes-pins here will do!"